Anti-communist symbol in Poland faces closure

Anti-communist symbol in Poland faces closure




BERLIN: The future of the Gdansk shipyard, the icon of the Solidarity trade union movement that helped to overthrow Poland's communists in 1989, hung in the balance Monday as the government and the European Union clashed over a rescue package for the docks.

The Gdansk shipyard has been facing tough competition from lower labor costs from Southeast Asia and from more modern facilities in Western Europe, leaving it reliant on state subsidies. But now, it may have to reimburse part of the €51 million, or $69 million, it has received from the Polish government since 2004.

If so, the shipyard would face certain bankruptcy, because it has neither the funds to pay back the subsidies nor to survive without state aid.

The Gdansk shipyard still captures the imagination of those who participated in the mass movement against Communist rule, so there would be immense sorrow and nostalgia if the shipyard were forced to close.

Bankruptcy would also mean the loss of 3,000 jobs, according to the Polish Economy Ministry. In its heyday, the shipyard employed 17,000 people. But since Poland's move to a market economy during the 1990s and its membership in the EU in May 2004, which obliged the country to accept the bloc's competition rules, its traditional manufacturing sectors have been decimated. The unemployment rate in Gdansk stands at 12 percent.

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The issue over the shipyard's future has come to a head because on July 20, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, gave the Polish government an ultimatum: provide an adequate restructuring plan by Aug. 21, including the reduction of capacity and jobs, or run the risk of having to return the subsidies. An EU spokeswoman said Monday that the Competition Commission had not received a reply.

Pawel Poncyliusz, the deputy economy minister, told Polish media this week that Warsaw would reply to the commission on Tuesday, the deadline. "I hope it will satisfy them," he said. "If it does not, it will be a problem."

Lech Walesa has started campaigning to save the yard, where he was working as an unknown electrician 27 years ago when he captured the world's imagination by grabbing hold of a loudspeaker and uniting the workers behind the independent Solidarity trade union movement.

Strikes, started by the Gdansk shipyard workers, gathered momentum and spread throughout the country. Walesa eventually became president of Poland in 1990.

"These days I see our victory was too easy," Walesa said. "The European Union should help us to bring efficiency to the shipyard, and we should not lose it as part of some stupid political game."

The dramatic events of August 1980 may mean little for the younger generation. Close to one million Poles, many either children or born after 1980, have left Poland to work in other EU countries since Poland joined the bloc. The past plays a far less important role for this generation.

Still, the closure of the historic Gdansk shipyard could fuel hostility in Poland toward the EU, particularly during the parliamentary election campaign. Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his conservative Law and Justice Party are expected to seek a vote this week to dissolve Parliament and call early elections, two years ahead of schedule.

The government has been paralyzed over the past few months because of policy differences with its coalition partners.